Nissan reveal 'Batmobile' Le Mans racer

Nissan has revealed its radical new DeltaWing technological concept - a race car resembling the Batmobile set to race at the 24 hours of Le Mans in June.

According to the car's chief designer, Ben Bowlby, the unique looking sports prototype is based on a "half everything" philosophy. This means the car's drag, weight and front tyre width - standing at just four inches wide per tyre - are all around 50 per cent of that of a normal Le Mans car.

The car is powered by a 220kW 1.6-litre turbocharged direct-injection engine loosely based on the top-spec Nissan Juke's 1.6 DIG-T unit - a move which Nissan claims will help translate improvements in efficiency on the racetrack to the road.

Although the car is not eligible for overall victory at Le Mans - it will compete in its own special open class designed to showcase future innovations and technology in motorsport - it should turn competitive lap times according to one of the car's three drivers, Marino Franchitti:

"The DeltaWing is easy to drive and behaves like a normal LMP car really. The handling is very consistent and controllable - almost benign - and we're predicting a lap time in between that of the LMP1 and LMP2 cars," said the Scot.

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